Germany was represented at the

Eurovision Song Contest 2019 The Eurovision Song Contest 2019 was the 64th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Tel Aviv, Israel, following the country's victory at the with the song "Toy" by Netta. Organised by the European Broadcasting Union ...

with the song "

Sister A sister is a woman or a girl who shares parents or a parent with another individual; a female sibling. The male counterpart is a brother. Although the term typically refers to a familial relationship, it is sometimes used endearingly to ref ...

" written by

Laurell Barker Laurell Barker (born April 20, 1979), also known mononymously as Laurell, is a Canadian singer and songwriter currently residing in Malmö, Sweden. She has co-written songs with numerous artists, including Twice, Eleni Foureira and Oh My Girl. Sh ...

, Marine Kaltenbacher, Tom Oehler and Thomas Stengaard, and performed by the duo S!sters, consisting of Laurita Kästel and Carlotta Truman. The German entry for the 2019 contest in

Tel Aviv Tel Aviv-Yafo ( or , ; ), sometimes rendered as Tel Aviv-Jaffa, and usually referred to as just Tel Aviv, is the most populous city in the Gush Dan metropolitan area of Israel. Located on the Israeli Mediterranean coastline and with a popula ...

, Israel was selected through the national final ''Unser Lied für Israel'', organised by the German broadcaster ARD in collaboration with

Norddeutscher Rundfunk (; "North German Broadcasting"), commonly shortened to NDR (), is a public broadcasting, public radio and television broadcaster, based in Hamburg. In addition to the city-state of Hamburg, NDR broadcasts for the German states of Lower Saxony, ...

(NDR). The national final took place on 22 February 2019 and featured seven competing acts with the winner selected by the votes of a 100-member Eurovision panel, a 20-member international jury panel and a public televote. "Sister" performed by S!sters was selected as the German entry for Tel Aviv after gaining the most points following the combination of votes. As a member of the " Big Five", Germany automatically qualified to compete in the final of the Eurovision Song Contest. Performing in position 4, Germany placed twenty-fifth out of the 26 participating countries with 24 points.

Background

Prior to the 2019 contest, Germany had participated in the Eurovision Song Contest sixty-two times since its debut as one of seven countries to take part in . Germany has won the contest on two occasions: in

1982 Events January * January 1 – In Malaysia and Singapore, clocks are adjusted to the same time zone, UTC+8 (GMT+8.00). * January 13 – Air Florida Flight 90 crashes shortly after takeoff into the 14th Street Bridge in Washington, D.C. ...

with the song "

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" performed by

Nicole Nicole may refer to: People * Nicole (name) * Nicole (American singer) (born 1958), a contestant in season 3 of the American ''The X Factor'' * Nicole (Chilean singer) (born 1977) * Nicole (German singer) (born 1964), winner of the 1982 Euro ...

and in

2010 The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...

with the song "

Satellite A satellite or an artificial satellite is an object, typically a spacecraft, placed into orbit around a celestial body. They have a variety of uses, including communication relay, weather forecasting, navigation ( GPS), broadcasting, scient ...

" performed by

Lena Lena or LENA may refer to: Places * Léna Department, a department of Houet Province in Burkina Faso * Lena, Manitoba, an unincorporated community located in Killarney-Turtle Mountain municipality in Manitoba, Canada * Lena, Norway, a village in ...

. Germany, to this point, has been noted for having competed in the contest more than any other country; they have competed in every contest since the first edition in 1956 except for the 1996 contest when the nation was eliminated in a pre-contest elimination round. In

2018 Events January * January 1 – Bulgaria takes over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, after the Estonian presidency. * January 4 – SPLM-IO rebels loyal to Chan Garang Lual start a raid against Juba, capital of ...

, the German entry "You Let Me Walk Alone" performed by Michael Schulte placed fourth of twenty-six competing songs scoring 340 points. The German national broadcaster, ARD, broadcasts the event within Germany and delegated the selection of the nation's entry to the regional broadcaster (NDR). NDR confirmed that Germany would participate in the 2019 Eurovision Song Contest on 19 May 2018. Since 2013, NDR had set up national finals with several artists to choose both the song and performer to compete at Eurovision for Germany. Along with their participation confirmation, the broadcaster announced that they would organise a multi-artist national final to select the German entry.

Before Eurovision

Unser Lied für Israel

(English: Our Song for Israel) was the competition that selected Germany's entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2019. The competition took place on 22 February 2019 at the Studio Berlin Adlershof in

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

, hosted by

Linda Zervakis Linda Zervakis (; born 25 July 1975 in Hamburg) is a German-Greek television presenter as well as newsreader and journalist. She was the first '' Tagesschau'' presenter with an immigrant background. Early life and education Zervakis is the dau ...

and

Barbara Schöneberger Barbara von Schierstädt (, ; born 5 March 1974) is a German television presenter, entertainer, actress and singer. Early life Schöneberger is the only child of clarinet player Hans Schöneberger and his wife Annemarie. She studied sociology, ...

. Like in the previous year, the national final was co-produced by the production companies Kimmig Entertainment and Lodge of Levity. Seven acts competed during the show with the winner being selected through a combination of votes from a 100-member Eurovision panel, a 20-member international jury panel and a public televote. The show was broadcast on

Das Erste Das Erste (; "The First") is the flagship national television channel of the ARD (broadcaster), ARD association of public broadcasting corporations in Germany. ''Das Erste'' is jointly operated by the ARD (broadcaster)#Institutions and member org ...

One 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number, numeral, and glyph. It is the first and smallest positive integer of the infinite sequence of natural numbers. This fundamental property has led to its unique uses in other fields, ranging from science to sp ...

and

Deutsche Welle (; "German Wave"), commonly shortened to DW (), is a German state-funded television network, state-owned international broadcaster funded by the Federal Government of Germany. The service is available in 32 languages. DW's satellite tele ...

as well as online via the broadcaster's official website ''live.daserste.de'' and Eurovision Song Contest website ''eurovision.de''. Peter Urban provided commentary during the show with interpretation in

German Sign Language German Sign Language (, DGS) is the sign language of the deaf community in Germany, Luxembourg and in the German-speaking community of Belgium. It is unclear how many use German Sign Language as their main language; Gallaudet University estimate ...

also being provided for the online broadcast on ''eurovision.de''. The national final was watched by 2.99 million viewers in Germany with a market share of 9.6%.

Competing entries

Interested performers were able to apply by submitting an online application between 21 June 2018 and 31 July 2018. Additional artists were also invited by NDR and proposed by composers, producers and record companies. By the end of the process, it was announced that 965 applications were received and 198 performers were longlisted by a panel consisting of Christoph Pellander (head of German delegation for Eurovision), Thomas Niedermeyer (Digame general manager), Werner Klötsch (Digame managing director) and representatives of NDR. 50 artists were further longlisted by a Eurovision panel consisting of 100 German television viewers put together according to selected criteria in cooperation with

Simon-Kucher & Partners Simon-Kucher is a global strategy consulting firm with offices in 30+ countries countries with 46 offices and  a team of more than 2,000 experts. Founded in 1985, the firm focuses on strategic management, growth strategy, marketing, pricing, an ...

and Digame through surveys on social media in order to reflect the taste of the wider European audience, while an international jury panel consisting of 20 members who had been national juries for their respective countries at the Eurovision Song Contest shortlisted 15 artists to go through a workshop, held at the Maarwegstudio 2 in

Cologne Cologne ( ; ; ) is the largest city of the States of Germany, German state of North Rhine-Westphalia and the List of cities in Germany by population, fourth-most populous city of Germany with nearly 1.1 million inhabitants in the city pr ...

between 28 September and 2 October 2018, where they received vocal coaching and choreography training. 90-second videos showcasing each artist during the workshop were recorded and presented to both groups that ultimately selected the six competing artists. The six participating acts were announced on 8 November 2018. Between 5 and 9 November 2018, the six artists worked with 24 German and international composers and lyricists in a songwriting camp in order to create their candidate songs for the national final. The participating songs were announced on 8 January 2019 alongside the announcement of S!sters as the seventh participating act after NDR received additional proposals from composers, producers and artists themselves.

Final

The televised final took place on 22 February 2019. The winner, "

" performed by S!sters, was selected through a combination of votes from a 100-member Eurovision panel (1/3), a 20-member international jury panel (1/3) and public televoting which included options for landline and SMS voting (1/3). In addition to the performances of the competing entries, 2010 German Eurovision Song Contest winner

performed her song "

Thank You "Thank you" (often expanded to ''thank you very much'' or ''thanks a lot'', or informally abbreviated to ''thanks'' or alternately as ''many thanks''Geoffrey Leech, ''The Pragmatics of Politeness'' (2014), p. 200.) is a common expression of gr ...

", 2018 German Eurovision entrant Michael Schulte performed his new song "Back to the Start", German singer

Udo Lindenberg Udo Lindenberg (born 17 May 1946) is a German singer, composer, and painter. Career Lindenberg started his musical career as a drummer. In 1969, he founded his first band Free Orbit, and also appeared as a studio and guest musician (with Micha ...

performed his song "Radio Song" together with singer

Andreas Bourani Andreas Bourani (born Stiegelmair; 2 November 1983) is a German pop singer and songwriter. Career Bourani was born to Egyptians, Egyptian parents and adopted as an infant by a German family in Augsburg, in the southwest of Bavaria. As a youth, ...

, and German band

Revolverheld Revolverheld (German for "gunslinger") is a German rock band from Hamburg. Originally formed under the name Manga in 2002, the band renamed in 2004 to "Tsunamikiller" and later decided upon the current name after the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquak ...

performed their song "So wie jetzt". A total of 374,313 televotes were cast during the show: 255,837 votes through landline and 118,476 votes through SMS.

Promotion

S!sters made several appearances across Europe to specifically promote "Sister" as the German Eurovision entry. On 6 April, Sisters performed during the ''Eurovision in Concert'' event which was held at the

AFAS Live AFAS Live (formerly known as the Heineken Music Hall) is a concert hall in Amsterdam, Netherlands, near the Johan Cruyff Arena. The big hall, named "Black Box" has a capacity of 6,000 and is 3000 m2; a smaller hall for after parties (Beat Box) h ...

venue in

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , ; ; ) is the capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, largest city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It has a population of 933,680 in June 2024 within the city proper, 1,457,018 in the City Re ...

, Netherlands and hosted by

Edsilia Rombley Edsilia Francisca Rombley (; born 13 February 1978) is a Dutch singer and television presenter. She began her career in 1995, as a member of the Dutch girl group Dignity. Rombley began her solo career in 1996, after winning the Dutch talent show ...

and

Marlayne Marleen Sahupala (née van den Broek; born 1 July 1971), known professionally as Marlayne or Marlayne Sahupala, is a Dutch singer, television presenter and newsreader. She is known for representing the Netherlands in the Eurovision Song Contest ...

. They also performed at the ''Eurovision Pre-Party Madrid'' event, which was held on 21 April at the Sala La Riviera venue in

Madrid Madrid ( ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in Spain, most populous municipality of Spain. It has almost 3.5 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 7 million. It i ...

, Spain and hosted by

Tony Aguilar José Pascual Antonio Aguilar Márquez Barraza (17 May 191919 June 2007), known as Antonio Aguilar, was a Mexican singer and actor. He recorded over 150 albums, which sold 25 million copies, and acted in more than 120 films. He was given t ...

and

Julia Varela Julia Varela Ruano (born 30 June 1981) is a Spanish television and radio presenter, newsreader, reporter and director. Biography After graduating in journalism at the Complutense University of Madrid, Varela began her professional career at RT ...

At Eurovision

According to Eurovision rules, all nations with the exceptions of the host country and the " Big Five" (France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom) are required to compete in one of two semi-finals, and qualify in order to participate in the final; the top ten countries from each semi-final progress to the final. As a member of the "Big Five", Germany automatically qualified to compete in the final on 18 May 2019. In addition to their participation in the final, Germany is also required to broadcast and vote in one of the two semi-finals. During the semi-final allocation draw on 28 January 2019, Germany was assigned to broadcast and vote in the second semi-final on 16 May 2019. In Germany, the two semi-finals and the final were broadcast on

. ARD also broadcast the final on

and

. All broadcasts featured commentary by Peter Urban. The final was watched by 8.1 million viewers in Germany, which meant a market share of 34.3 per cent. The German spokesperson, who announced the top 12-point score awarded by the German jury during the final, was

Final

S!sters took part in technical rehearsals on 10 and 12 May, foll owed by dress rehearsals on 15, 17 and 18 May. This included the semi-final jury show on 15 May where an extended clip of the German performance was filmed for broadcast during the live show on 16 May and the jury final on 17 May where the professional juries of each country watched and voted on the competing entries. After technical rehearsals were held on 12 May, the "Big Five" countries and host country Israel held a press conference. As part of this press conference, the artists took part in a draw to determine which half of the grand final they would subsequently participate in. Germany was drawn to compete in the first half. Following the conclusion of the second semi-final, the shows' producers decided upon the running order of the final. The running order for the semi-finals and final was decided by the shows' producers rather than through another draw, so that similar songs were not placed next to each other. Germany was subsequently placed to perform in position 4, following the entry from the

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, also known as Czechia, and historically known as Bohemia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the south ...

and before the entry from

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

. The German performance was designed by Florian Wieder and featured the members of S!sters performing on stage; Carlotta Truman was in a leather black outfit, while Laurita Kästel was in a gold and black flower-patterned mini dress. The staging presentation included Truman standing at the left of the stage and Kästel sitting at the right of the stage at the beginning. As the song progressed, a pyrotechnic waterfall was displayed and both members walked towards the front of the stage to meet each other. The LED screens displayed clips of the duo singing with their faces multiplied as well as words such as "sorry" and "respect" in big letters for the first chorus, and a group of women in various types of relationships as well as a peace symbol for the second chorus. S!sters were joined by four off-stage backing vocalists: Inga Lühning, Ray Lozano, Sonja Wiegand and Verena Heinz. Germany placed twenty-fifth in the final, scoring 24 points: 0 points from the televoting and 24 point from the juries.

Voting

Voting during the three shows involved each country awarding two sets of points from 1-8, 10 and 12: one from their professional jury and the other from televoting. Each nation's jury consisted of five music industry professionals who are citizens of the country they represent, with their names published before the contest to ensure transparency. This jury judged each entry based on: vocal capacity; the stage performance; the song's composition and originality; and the overall impression by the act. In addition, no member of a national jury was permitted to be related in any way to any of the competing acts in such a way that they cannot vote impartially and independently. The individual rankings of each jury member, as well as the nation's televoting results, were released shortly after the grand final. Below is a breakdown of points awarded to Germany and awarded by Germany in the second semi-final and grand final of the contest, and the breakdown of the jury voting and televoting conducted during the two shows:

Points awarded to Germany

Points awarded by Germany

Detailed voting results

The following members comprised the German jury: * Michael Schulte (jury chairperson)singer, songwriter, represented Germany in the 2018 contest *

Annett Louisan Annett Louisan (born Annett Päge; 2 April 1977) is a German singer. Louisan is her stage name, derived from the name of her grandmother, Louise. Her first album, ''Bohème'', was listed on the German charts for almost a year, with a peak rank ...

singer, songwriter * Nico Santossinger, songwriter, composer * Nicola Rostsinger, songwriter, artist * Joe Chialomanager, label founder

Notes

References

External links

Official ARD Eurovision site
{{Eurovision Song Contest 2019

2019 This was the year in which the first known human case of COVID-19 was documented, preceding COVID-19 pandemic, the pandemic which was declared by the World Health Organization the following year. Up to that point, 2019 had been described as ...

Countries in the Eurovision Song Contest 2019

Eurovision The Eurovision Song Contest (), often known simply as Eurovision, is an international song competition organised annually by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) among its members since 1956. Each participating broadcaster submits an origina ...

Eurovision Song Contest entrants